New Economic Policy | EPFL Graph Search

The New Economic Policy (NEP) (Новая экономическая политика (НЭП)) was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control", while socialized state enterprises would operate on "a profit basis". The NEP represented a more market-oriented economic policy (deemed necessary after the Russian Civil War of 1918 to 1922) to foster the economy of the country, which had suffered severely since 1915. The Soviet authorities partially revoked the complete nationalization of industry (established during the period of war communism of 1918 to 1921) and introduced a mixed economy which allowed private individuals to own small and medium sized enterprises, while the state continued to control large industries, banks and foreign trade. In addition, the NEP abolished forced grain-requisition and introduced a tax on farmers, payable in the form of raw agricultural product. The Bolshevik government adopted the NEP in the course of the 10th Congress of the All-Russian Communist Party (March 1921) and promulgated it by a decree on 21 March 1921: "On the Replacement of grain-requisition by food tax". Further decrees refined the policy. Other policies included monetary reform (1922–1924) and the attraction of foreign capital. The NEP created a new category of people called NEPmen (нэпманы) (nouveau riches). Joseph Stalin abandoned the NEP in 1928 with the Great Break. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized control of key centres in Russia. This led to the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922, which pitted the Bolsheviks and their allies against the Whites and other counter-revolutionary forces. During this period the Bolsheviks attempted to administer Russia's economy purely by decree, a policy of the War Communism. Farmers and factory workers were ordered to produce, and food and goods were seized and issued by decree.

Creativity without critique: An inquiry into the aesthetization of alternative culture

Luca Giovanni Pattaroni, Yves Pedrazzini, Mischa-Sébastien Piraud, Letícia Cabeçadas Do Carmo

Based on a research in Lisbon, Geneva and Ljubljana, this paper aim to analyse the uses of the term “alternative” (along its formal and aesthetic registers) in order to tackle the question of the aesthetization of creativity, away from its critical dimensi ...

2014